This has been kicking around in my head for some time and to a large extent it wrote itself. I am not sure whether I’ve got it right, or whether it is depressing or uplifting – it might be seen as either.
It’s 500 words – just under – and it’s a story for these times which are currently wrenched out of joint.
In any case, it’s not going up as a page on this site, but if you want a free copy (Word DOCX format), click here. I would simply ask you to leave your thoughts and reactions as a comment here if the piece makes any impression on you.
I’ve entitled it “The Other Side of the Mirror” – which was the title of a song I once wrote and recorded with a couple of friends. It seems that the world(s) on the other side of the mirror, as in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Through the Looking-Glass, and a story by Borges, has a continued fascination for me. The cobbled-together Photoshop illustration comes close to my mental image of the story.
Bonus point (no Googling!): Where does the last sentence come from?
A lovely, provocative piece of writing. A few days ago, in a health facility where I work, I found myself exposed to a coughing, febrile patient. Moments later, as I looked through the windows of a locked nursing station, I saw the hand sanitizer I so desperately needed on the wall adjacent to the chamber. Unfortunately, when I went to that wall, the dispenser was not there — it was an illusion brought on by a series of reflections worthy of any magician’s act, The hand sanitizer was actually inside the locked station, and I was momentarily panicked by this unforeseen turn of events. And while it wasn’t a visit by Death, I wonder if it might have been in these most vexing times.
Quite a story, there, Arthur. Thanks for sharing.
You write so well Hugh. I like the idea of basing the meeting around whether he is ready, rather than whether he is afraid. It makes me think of all the things I haven’t done yet, whether I ever could be ready and all the people who are dying who don’t want to. A story for all time and to contemplate now while there is this pandemic to have to face, hopefully not in the mirror.
Thanks for this – much appreciated